Dancing Girl and I ventured out for tea on the very last day of our Virginia vacation, a cool and soggy day. The chalkboard sign was a cheery welcome to Peace Hill Farm and so was Louise, our hostess, a beautiful teacup from Bath, England.

We had the place to ourselves that day and chose to sit in a cozy sunroom and despite the lack of sun, it was bright and warm.

Our tea adventure began with a steaming bowl of pumpkin soup, scrumptious and homemade, as was everything we were served that day.

Our afternoon tea was a very generous tray of 4 different, freshly prepared and farm fresh sandwiches, tea cake, scone and shortbread. 4 or 5 loose-leaf tea options were just enough of a selection and our tea was piping hot and perfect.

Darjeeling tea and a rosemary scone.

We could have stayed even longer than we did, in fact, truly we could have stayed because Peace Hill Farm is also a bed and breakfast and events center, but our menfolk awaited our return and alas, we departed with promises to return...

Our quarterly Mid-TN Tea travels took us to Tea on the Mountain located in Tracy City, TN and the drive was cloaked in dense fog as we traversed the mountain pass from Middle TN. After an adventurous 2 hour drive, we arrived ready for tea! The tearoom was housed in a modest home built in the 1950s and located at end of a street on the outskirts of town.

The tearoom was dark and musty-smelling, the tea lukewarm and weak, food fair and overall just not what we had hoped for. However there were 12 of us at the table and we enjoyed each other's company and our time together.